Karma
by theharshlightofday
Summary: Whipped cream. Strawberries. Candles. And a little too much to drink. A night to remember. LCxKT.
1. Part I

_This shameless smut fic was inspired by the songs 'Closer' by Nine Inch Nails, and 'Dream On' by Depeche Mode, so consider them a sort of soundtrack for this. Dedicated to all my KTEB sisters (and brothers). :D Oh, and I don't own Tomb Raider, its characters and all that jazz. If the people who •_did_• own them_ _saw what I was doing, they'd probably have a heart attack or something. So best not tell them ;) Enjoy! _

**XXX**

There was a pounding on her door.

It wasn't enough for someone to bother Lara at two a.m., or even to wake her up from the first real sleep that she had had in days; it was the fact that Kurtis Trent now stood at her door, like the proverbial bastard that he was.

"Hi Lara," he said.

She leant heavily upon the doorframe and passed a hand across her eyes, startled by the light of the hallway. Kurtis was dressed in a dark shirt and a rather battered motorcycle jacket. He wore the same green combat trousers and army boots that he had always done.

Lara put a hand to her forehead.

"I'm really not in the mood to talk at the moment," she told him, making to close the door again. Kurtis stopped it however, by lodging his boot between it and the doorframe.

"Who said we were gonna talk?" he said. Lara was forced to admit defeat and open the door wider again. Kurtis shrugged past her with a smile.

Lara sighed and closed the door behind her.

"What do you want, Kurtis?"

He did not answer; he simply ran a hand across her coffee table and then threw himself down onto her sofa, avoiding the question.

"Have you missed me?" he asked.

"No," she replied firmly, turning to face him again. "I'm missing my bed at the moment." Then there was an awkward moment as Lara became aware of what she was wearing, or more correctly _not_ wearing.

No wonder the guy was acting so darn smug.

Lara grabbed the coverlet off the end of the sofa and threw it hurriedly over herself. Of all the people in the world, Kurtis Trent had just seen her standing there in nothing but her bra and thong.

"Fuck you Kurtis," she said, as he sat there dying from laughter. Her cheeks were now flushed with colour.

"You should've seen the look on your face," he managed, between choking gasps. "It was priceless!"

Pissed off wasn't the word. Lara just stood there, seething, and clung to her dignity for dear life, along with the coverlet.

"Was there a point to this visit?" she bit out angrily. "Or did you just come to make goo goo eyes at me?"

Kurtis smiled and propped his feet up on the coffee table.

"It's been over a month," he said. "Wanted to check up on you."

"How sweet." Her tone was not sincere.

"Aww, come on Lara," Kurtis insisted. "I wanna know if you're doing okay."

She folded her arms and glared at him.

"Well, I'm currently a recovering insomniac, have developed an affinity for cooking and want to kick you up the ass. I think that's everything - now get out!"

Kurtis made no move to leave.

"Nice place," he said, looking around. "Shitty location though."

"Yeah," she replied in a sarcastic drawl. "It's never far away enough from you."

Kurtis simply ignored her comment.

"So how come you're still in Prague?" he asked her. "I would've thought you'd want out of this place as soon as possible."

Lara studied him for a moment: "I'd say the same for you."

They were both quiet for a moment. Eventually Kurtis got up and strode over to the fireplace. He picked up the smashed photo which stood upon the mantelpiece above it. It depicted Lara and an elderly gentleman posing before a line of sand dunes. Each rested a proud hand upon a giant golden disc bearing an Aztec-like design.

"You and Werner," Kurtis realised, turning back to look at her. "I take it you were pretty close?"

"Something like that." Lara quickly walked over and grabbed the photo frame from him, setting it back on the mantelpiece with something akin to reverence.

"You don't need to get all defensive," Kurtis sulked. "I lost my father the same way, remember?" Kurtis went and settled back down onto the sofa. "It sucks, but you just gotta push it to the back of your mind. Otherwise a guy could go crazy." He waved an absent hand. "Or girl, in your case."

Lara refused to let this affect her.

"Kurtis, why are you here?"

He didn't look up.

"I got lonely okay?" he muttered. "And don't look at me like that, because I know you're lonely too."

Lara was about to protest but then she stopped herself. Who was she trying to fool?

"Fine," she pouted, perching herself upon the arm of the sofa. "I'm lonely. We're both lonely. We could start a freaking support group. What do you want me to do about it?"

Kurtis gave a sigh. Why did everything between them have to be so hard?

"Just let me crash here tonight, okay?" he said. "I'll be gone by the morning, I promise."

Lara pulled her coverlet a little tighter about herself.

"And this is the only way I'll get you out of my home?"

Kurtis smirked.

"Unless you call the cops on me, yeah."

Lara thought about it for a moment.

"Fine," she said finally. "But get your damn feet off my coffee table." Kurtis broke into that cocky grin which she had always hated. Lara swatted at his legs with a scowl. "I'm serious, Trent. That thing was bloody expensive."

Kurtis took his feet down with a smile.

"Do I get a cookie now?"

"Shut up Kurtis," she growled, disappearing into her bedroom to go and put on some clothes.

**XXX**

Lara soon found herself in front of the mirror, checking her appearance. She caught herself just in time. Did she really care what Kurtis thought of her looks? He had already seen her in her underwear tonight. She didn't think she was going to live that down.

Lara threw down her mascara in protest, almost knocking over one of the candles on her dresser as she did so. She kept them all over her apartment. She wasn't too concerned about fire safety lately. It was just relieving to wake up and find some light in the darkness.

Pulling a brush quickly through her hair, Lara tied it back in a loose braid and slipped on her black camisole. She could hear the sound of the television. With a sigh she went back into the living room to find Kurtis shamelessly channel surfing. He had removed his jacket.

"Why is there never anything on?" he asked, not looking up as she approached.

"Maybe because it's quarter past two in the morning," she replied, "and half of the channels are in Czech."

Kurtis eventually gave up after landing on a disturbing infomercial for birth control and handed the remote over to Lara. She pushed in 27 and brought up BBC World. Some coverage of England's latest match was playing, and the two dissolved into an argument as to whether the sport was called football or soccer. Said discussion abruptly ended when Lara stomped down on Kurtis' foot, promising to land a hit in a more delicate region of his body and effectively prove to him the real meaning of 'football'. He shut up soon after.

Ten minutes later there was a report on the robbery of a chocolate factory, and Lara suddenly realised how hungry she was.

"Want anything?" she asked, going over to raid the fridge.

"Got any alcohol?" was the reply.

Lara rolled her eyes.

"I'm still mad at you Trent," she said. "Don't think I'm going to give away my hard-earned liquor."

She was greeted with silence from the sofa and she knew Kurtis was sulking. Lara turned back to the fridge and opened the door with a sigh. A quick study of its contents revealed how badly she needed to go grocery shopping: half a can of whipped cream, a couple of inedible-looking frozen meals, a box of strawberries which, miraculously, were still fresh, and a quart of milk and some leftover butter.

Lara stood there for a second, and then admitted defeat and grabbed two bottles of Tsing-Tao, kicking the door shut behind her with excessive force. She grabbed a bottle opener and returned to the living room.

"Thanks," Kurtis said, taking the drink she offered him. She handed him the bottle opener once she had removed the cap from her own drink, and then settled down beside him and snatched away the remote.

"Did you only come here to steal my liquor?" she asked.

Kurtis removed the top from his bottle with a dull clink.

"Well, I did come for some action too but you aren't making it very easy."

Lara decided to let this slip, and proceeded to take a long gulp of her drink. Kurtis hid his laughter as she flipped through the channels. A tacky soap opera followed a 24 hour shopping channel. Then, to her horror, Lara somehow tuned into a porno movie right in the middle of a steamy sex scene. To cap it all off she dropped the remote, and was left to bend down and search desperately under the sofa as groans and gasps of pleasure filled the room.

From above, she heard Kurtis laugh and say: "She is _so_ faking it."

After what seemed like an eternity Lara found the remote and quickly flipped the movie off. Kurtis looked disappointed.

"Oh come on!" he cried. "At least _he_ was seeing some action!"

Lara raised an eyebrow and began to flick through a series of boring documentaries instead.

"Don't tell me you watch that kind of filth," she said.

Kurtis threw back some more drink.

"At best it's an art form," he replied, gesturing towards the television with his bottle. "Especially that hot chick with the bunny ears."

Lara just gaped at him, open mouthed.

"You have a dirty mind, do you know that Trent?"

Kurtis just smiled. She knew he was proud of this fact. Lara lowered her bottle of Tsing-Tao.

"I feel sick," she muttered.

Kurtis pushed the bottle towards her again.

"Alcohol," he insisted. "The solution to all of life's problems."

"And the cause of most of them," Lara replied, glaring at him and then gulping it down, alarmed at how quickly she was drinking it. It was now three a.m., and she knew she wouldn't be at work tomorrow. It wasn't much to brag about; just a job as a tour guide showing gullible school kids around a museum, but it had tided over her for the rent and bills the past few months. She still could not face going back to England.

Before she knew it, however, Lara had gotten another two bottles from the fridge. Kurtis accepted one and she started on the other. She had always been a cheap date when it came to alcohol, and tonight was no exception.

For some reason they ended up watching the Notebook, which had to rank high on the top ten list of the most tacky romantic movies of all time. Anything below that would have been an insult to tacky movies. Kurtis was quick to point out the flaw in every scene, and they were both dying from laughter as the hero hung from the Ferris wheel.

"Damn that guy is pathetic," Kurtis said through his laughter. "He obviously never got laid in high school."

"Oh," Lara riposted, "and I suppose disarming and groping a complete stranger is completely fine in comparison?"

Kurtis glanced at her and smiled.

"That's very different," he countered. "I was acting accordingly in a dangerous situation."

She raised an eyebrow.

"So you were searching for hidden weapons in my pants?"

"Something like that."

**XXX**

5am found them cross-legged on the floor, playing gin rummy with a deck of cards Lara didn't even know she had. Kurtis had first suggested they play strip poker; she had laughed and replied that she wasn't nearly drunk enough yet.

But, unfortunately, she had agreed to let him choose the next game if he won, and the fact that the guy was exceptionally good with a deck of cards was not helping matters.

For the third time that night, he laid out his winning hand.

"Strip poker!" Kurtis said with a grin.

"Oh, come on," she moaned. "You must be cheating somehow." And she crawled over and swiped his deck of cards.

"Hey!" he cried in protest. "You're not allowed to peek!"

Lara just gave a scowl as she studied Kurtis' cards; they definitely beat her hand. She cast them down onto the carpet and rubbed at her tired eyes.

"How'd you get so good at this anyways?" she asked.

Kurtis gathered up all the cards again with a shrug.

"Does it really matter?" he said. "Now, I wanna see some skin!" And he started reshuffling the entire deck in preparation for another hand.

Lara folded her arms.

"You've already seen enough skin for one night, Kurtis."

He raised an eyebrow as he gulped down some more Tsing-Tao.

"Yeah, but _you_ haven't," he replied. "I just wanna even the odds a little."

She gave him a look, one which told him clearly that she was not going to fall for his tricks. Kurtis shook his head with quiet laughter.

"Aw, come on Croft!" he said. "I'll even give you a head start." And before Lara could protest Kurtis had reached down and pulled off his shirt. He soon cast it across the room so that he was sitting there before her, dressed solely in a pair of low-slung green combats. He gestured to his bare chest and said: "Happy?"

Lara smirked as she took in his toned abs.

"Very."


	2. Part II

_ •_cringes as she looks at the date she posted the first part of this_• Geez, has it really been that long? Well, I'll admit I never forgot that I needed to finish this fic. I had the second part all ready when I posted the first, but then I realised how horrible the second part was and I just never got around to revising it. I've gotten a number of lovely reviews recently, however, so they made me dig this out again and have a go at finishing it. And finish it I did, yay! So thank you to everyone who has ever reviewed this, even when it sat eternally in limbo :D_

_Whilst I was in the mood I went back and revised the first part, so I advise people to check that out before reading on. To split the fic into two parts of equal length I added another scene onto the end of the first chapter. I had a lot of fun writing this, despite how long it took to finish, and I sincerely hope that it shines through ^_^  
_

**XXX**

Two more bottles of Tsing-Tao and three more plays later, and Kurtis was down to his boxers, while Lara was still hanging onto her bra and her trousers, which were really nothing more than drawstring pyjama bottoms.

"Come on Kurtis," she was saying with a laugh. "You lost the play. You have to take something off."

Kurtis thought for a moment, and then he made to remove the ring from his right hand. Lara threw up a hand in protest.

"That is not an item of clothing," she said.

"Sure it is," Kurtis insisted. "I'm wearing it, aren't I?"

Lara shook her head and folded her arms; this guy was going to have to follow the rules exactly.

"Take off the boxers, Kurtis."

Kurtis met her eyes. A smirk was playing at his lips.

"I thought you didn't even want to play?"

"Yes, well…" Lara played distractedly with the bottle cap of her Tsing-Tao. "I'm winning," she said firmly, "so we might as well see this thing through to the end."

Kurtis looked down at his boxers for a moment, and then back at her.

"Fine then," he said, with a cocky grin. "But only if you're the one who removes them."

Lara's bottle cap suddenly went flying across the room. It hit the far wall with a dull clink. Lara raised her head and looked at Kurtis, whose gaze was unflinching. She took in the implications of his words as a slow smile spread across her face.

"You're on."

And she leant forwards and made towards him on her hands and knees, feeling increasingly giddy in her drunken stupor. Maybe it was the prospect of seeing the rest of his perfectly toned body, or simply the alcohol that was causing her to lose all sense of her inhibitions. All that mattered was that Lara had crawled over to Kurtis and slid her hand down the front of his boxers before you could say 'Chirugai!'

"Ah, ah," Kurtis somehow managed through his laughter. "I want you to use your teeth."

Lara sat back on her heels, slowly pulling her hand out from under the fabric of his boxers and letting it teasingly linger.

"I'm not sure I can get them off yet," she said quietly. "We need a little axel grease, I think. Or better yet…" She reached out with her free hand picked up a half-empty bottle of Tsing-Tao.

Kurtis was biting down upon his lip with a smile.

"Lara," he said, raising an eyebrow. "I thought you weren't into this filth?"

She had a devilish glint in her eyes as she said: "You obviously don't know me too well."

**XXX**

A few minutes later Kurtis was lowering himself down onto the carpet, which was now thoroughly soaked with alcohol. The deck of cards were scattered across the apartment and long forgotten. Lara swung a leg over his prone body and promptly straddled him.

"Let's see if I can't budge them now," she murmured.

And Lara bent down and ran her tongue along Kurtis' alcohol-soaked chest, right down past his navel. Then her hands slipped down to his waist and slowly pulled his boxers down past his knees. Kurtis' hands clawed at the carpet as she drew down her own pants and slid them off, along with her thong. Lara carelessly kicked them off and quickly forgot about them.

Kurtis could no longer wait; he reached up with desperate hands and grabbed Lara firmly by her forearms. Soon they were kissing furiously. Lara gasped as Kurtis nuzzled at her neck. Slowly and deliberately he slid his hands along her toned legs, up to her thighs and paused to linger at her hips. With a pounding heart Lara eased herself down onto him.

She began very slowly at first, taking her time and keeping her gaze locked upon his face as her breathing became heavier. Kurtis' hands slowly explored the curve of her back and then slid down past her hips; she gasped as he cupped his hands about her ass. At first gentle and teasing, her thrusts gradually increased in speed until Kurtis was clawing at the carpet and she was struggling to draw breath.

Lara slowed again. She brushed away her sweat-soaked hair with a smile. They had raided the fridge again after abandoning the deck of cards, and in her drunken state Lara had realised the benefits of the assortment of food contained therein. She quickly reached over and took up the can of squirty cream and shook it thoroughly.

Soon Lara had left a trail of cream reaching from Kurtis' navel up to his throat. She stooped down again and ran her tongue through this cream, beginning at his stomach and following the trail right up to Kurtis' chest. When she reached its end she carried on and began to kiss his neck. The next moment her mouth was on his, and Lara's hands were tangled desperately in his hair.

Then she took his face in her hands, and Kurtis wrapped his arms about her and rose to his knees, with her legs still straddled about his waist. He began to kiss her neck again. Lara paused and simply hung there with her eyes closed, listening as he whispered sweet nothings in her ear.

"Lara," he murmured. "From the moment I saw you, I wanted no-one else. I knew you would be amazing." Lara simply smiled against him as Kurtis paused to lick at the cream which covered her mouth and her throat. "If it wasn't for the interruption I would have fucked you right there in the Louvre." His hands slid down her back and opened the clasps of her bra. "I wanted you so bad."

The next moment Lara's bra fell to the floor, and Kurtis cupped her breasts and began planting soft kisses down to her stomach. For a while Lara lost herself, listening to him whispering into her ear.

"I wanna fuck you," he murmured. "I wanna fuck you like an animal. I wanna burn your insides. I want you. I want inside you."

Lara's hands found his face again and they began to kiss hungrily, using their teeth and their tongues. Lara caught his lip and tasted blood. Then Kurtis slid his arms about her shoulders and turned around, lowering her down onto the floor and straddling her hips. He was promptly inside her and fucking her senseless. She had been desperate for this for a very long time.

Lara arched her back and gave a low moan. Desperately she struggled for purchase, and suddenly her hand came upon the box of strawberries. With a laugh she motioned towards the box with a nod of her head. Kurtis paused for a moment and then smiled as he leant across her and bent down to pick up one of the strawberries with his teeth. It was not as easy as it looked, and Lara was laughing again as Kurtis secured one for a moment only to drop it onto her chest. It landed between her breasts.

Kurtis gave a smirk. Slowly he bent down and trailed kisses down Lara's neck and along her breasts. Eventually he had picked up the piece of fruit between his teeth again. Lara drew herself up onto her elbows and pulled him close. Then they were kissing again and sharing the strawberry between them, alternately kissing and swallowing at the same time.

Within minutes they had emptied the box. The scent of strawberries and sex hung in the air. Once again Kurtis was kissing Lara's neck. In its travels his hand accidentally came across the remote, and the television sputtered back into life. It switched back onto the porn channel again. A cacophony of sordid moans filled the room.

"Let's try that position," Kurtis slurred, pointing at the TV.

Lara craned her neck and looked at the television upside-down. She frowned.

"I'm not sure I can bend that way."

Kurtis laughed.

"Well," he said, bending down to kiss her again, "we'll soon find out, won't we?" And as he spoke Kurtis skimmed a hand along Lara's stomach and down past her thigh. She gasped as it ran down and reached places that made her heart skip a beat.

One way or the other, Lara knew that this was going to be an unforgettable night.

**XXX**

A few hours later sunlight slowly invaded her senses.

Lara groaned, screwing her eyes shut even tighter, and turned over onto her other side. She had the world's worst hangover, but she couldn't remember for the life of her why. For a few minutes she remained still, trying to fall asleep again, but her mind had better ideas. It refused to stop reminding her of the incessant pounding in her head.

_Goddammit_, she thought. _What on earth happened to me last night?_

Her head was resting on something rough and damp. This wasn't her bed. With a moan Lara threw back the coverlet which had acted as a blanket that night and sat up with bleary eyes. She scrambled out of instinct for her alarm clock upon the nearby coffee table, but only managed to knock over her lamp in the process. It smashed into pieces on the floor.

Lara groaned loudly. The universe was conspiring against her this morning. She raised her hands to her face and rubbed at her eyes with her knuckles. Lara paused with horror, however, as she took in for the first time the desperate state of her living room. Most of the furniture had been pushed back or overturned, the curtains had been torn off the railing and the carpet was a mess of Tsing-Tao, strawberries and whipped cream. Various items of clothing were strewn about the room; Lara's bra was even hanging from the ceiling fan. She had no idea how it had gotten there.

Lara sat frozen at the sight before her. Suddenly every last memory came flooding back to her of the previous night's encounter. A million emotions seized her at once: shock, anger and shame were only a few. Slowly the faint sound of conversation drifted in from the kitchen. The door was ajar. Lara frantically climbed to her feet and pulled the coverlet about herself to cover up her naked body, tying it firmly so that it would not fall down. Then she crept towards the kitchen to investigate the noise.

"…yeah…" trailed a familiar voice. "She won't be in today I'm afraid… why not? Well, you really wanna know?" There was a pause, and then a slight chuckle. "She just had the best damn sex of her life…" Lara's eyes widened in horror as she recognized the voice; it was Kurtis. "Yes, yes…" he continued. "I'll let her know… who am I? I'm her boyfriend of course… yes… she was damn good in bed… I can give you details if you like-"

Lara burst through the door screaming: "TRENT!"

Kurtis turned towards her, looking perfectly calm. He put down the phone with a sigh.

"Good morning," he said with a smile. He was wearing only his boxers, and his hair was still tousled from sleep. Lara noticed he had been making breakfast. "Your boss is a huge pervert, do you know that?"

Lara just stood there in the doorway, breathing heavily with anger. She put a hand to her forehead, feeling the beginnings of a migraine forming, and tried to avoid screaming at him again.

"Kurtis," she hissed in a low voice, "what in the hell do you think you are doing?"

Kurtis just gave a shrug and went back to his breakfast.

"I was doing you a favour," he said, with his mouth full of cereal.

"A favour?" Lara's voice was tinged with suppressed rage.

Kurtis nodded. He walked over to the sink and discarded his bowl upon the sideboard.

"You don't belong here, Lara. You're not the kind of person who works in a museum, for God's sake." He paused. "Well, not anymore anyways…"

Lara's eyebrow twitched a little.

"What do you mean 'not anymore'?"

Kurtis ran a distracted hand through his hair.

"Your boss kinda just fired you…"

Lara could not speak for several moments; she felt as though she was paralysed with anger.

"Fired?" she repeated in a low voice. "What do you mean I'm fired?"

"Geez Croft," Kurtis muttered, hoisting himself up onto the kitchen counter. "It's only a shitty little job. I bet you didn't even enjoy it anyways."

Lara wanted to blurt out a long line of expletives, but then clamped her mouth shut in anger. He was right. Again. She folded her arms and leant against the wall with a frown.

"How did you get to be the voice of reason?" she asked him.

Kurtis shrugged.

"I got stabbed through the gut. A thing like that can change a guy."

They both remained silent for several minutes. Kurtis stared intently at the ceiling, while Lara closed her eyes and leant her head back against the wall. The pounding in her head had subsided a little.

"Last night…" she began.

"Never happened," Kurtis finished, jumping down off the kitchen counter. "This doesn't change anything. You hate me, you've always hated me, and now you're wondering why I haven't left yet."

Lara nodded.

"That about covers it."

Kurtis stood there for a moment, studying her closely. Then he brushed past Lara out of the kitchen and set about gathering up his clothes. They were scattered about everywhere.

"Where are you going?" she asked, following him into the living room. "I thought you had no place to go?"

Kurtis shrugged as he dropped down onto his hands and knees to look under the sofa. He was missing one of his boots.

"I don't."

"So?"

"So." Kurtis retrieved his other boot and straightened up. His clothes were bundled in his arms. "Since you're not gonna be putting out again anytime soon, my work here is done."

Lara really felt like throwing something at him.

"What else do you want Kurtis?" she cried. "Another round of mindless sex?"

He raised an eyebrow as he pulled his trousers back on.

"Well, yeah."

Lara glared at him.

"I'm not that desperate yet," she said, her eyes hardening. "There's a lot more to a relationship than just sex, Kurtis."

He looked at her closely as he buttoned up his pants.

"We have a relationship?"

Lara shook her head.

"That came out all wrong…"

"No," he said firmly. "It didn't." Kurtis walked over and deposited himself back upon the coffee table again. He was wearing only his trousers, and his remaining clothes he slung in a heap beside him. "What is this, Lara?"

She stared resolutely down at her feet. She couldn't meet his judging gaze.

"Last night…" she said. "Well, last night… It may have been an idiotic drunken mess, but it was a _good _idiotic drunken mess." She smiled a little. "I haven't laughed like that in months. Not since Von Croy…" She trailed off, but did not lift her head to check his reaction.

Kurtis shook his head. He stood up and walked over to her.

"Lara, there's no shame in enjoying idiotic drunken sex. Hell, I'd doubt your sanity if you _didn't _enjoy idiotic drunken sex with me." Lara could not help but laugh. "But you gotta stop punishing yourself. Werner's gone, just like my father. Neither of them is coming back, but I'm sure they would have been looking down on us last night and smiling."

Lara raised her head and gaped at him. Then her face broke into a smile and she quickly burst into laughter. Kurtis had to sit down again to stop his sides from splitting. It took a while for them to both recover. Lara pulled her coverlet a little closer and blushed.

"Now I have to ask," she said, slowly. "Who exactly is going to clean up this mess?"

Lara gestured to the room about them. There were still playing cards strewn about the floor, as well as whipped cream, strawberries, alcohol and other… fluids.

Kurtis simply reached into the pocket of his trousers and pulled out a slip of paper. He passed it to her with a smile.

"Let somebody else do it."

Lara took the item from Kurtis' hand with a frown; it was a plane ticket back to London, first class.

"What is this?" she asked, looking up at him in confusion.

Kurtis reached up and retrieved her bra from where it hung from the ceiling fan.

"A fresh start," he said, throwing the bra towards her. Lara caught it with a start. "I think we both need one. And I heard somewhere that Lara Croft owns a huge sprawling mansion and grounds…"

Lara shook her head as she turned the plane ticket over in her hands.

"First class?" She looked up at him with a knowing smile. "What did I do to deserve this?"

Kurtis smirked.

"I can think of a few things." He approached her and slipped his arms around her waist. Lara did not push him away. "And since you no longer have a job," he added, "I take it you're free all day, huh?"

Lara did not say anything; there were no more words. The plane ticket fell forgotten from her hand as Kurtis took her face in his hands. Their kiss spoke of intense longing and promise.

It did not take her much more convincing. Lara had nothing left in Prague anyways and, as Kurtis had shown her, she was slowly killing herself by trying to live a lie. Besides, after last night she would never get her cleaning deposit back.

For a moment she just enjoyed the sensation of Kurtis' kisses again, but then Lara pulled back and said firmly: "I need to shower first."

Kurtis kept a grip upon her elbow as Lara turned to walk away; slowly, his fingers trailed down her arm and brushed lightly against her hand as she made for the doorway leading into the bathroom. He remained where he was for the moment.

Lara rested a hand upon the doorframe and turned back to him with a teasing smile: "Well, are you coming or not?"

Kurtis smirked. He needed no urging to follow.

**THE END**


End file.
